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  • Christianity and my dialogue with complex religious questions

    Christianity and my dialogue with complex religious questions

    I have always been fascinated, like a host of intellectuals, philosophers and theologians, by the place of religions in the human search for meaning. Even more than this, I have been intrigued by the role that religion and its complexities play in the national consciousness of a plural and fragmented nation like Nigeria, or any other nation for that matter. This plays into a kind of a general pattern of investigation for an institutional reformer who is consistently intent on those variables that are conducive to building a formidable set of institutions for making a nation work. But beyond this professional interest, religion and spirituality have featured as fundamental dimensions of my philosophical search for meaning in life. It seems almost inevitable that humans would confront and engage the divine, given the complexity of the universe and the diverse experiences that life involves.

    Christianity plays a very significant role in the human search for meaning in a world of meaninglessness. It is a unique spiritual formation that embeds theological, existential and philosophical concerns that serve as a source of eschatological comfort and reflective interests for millions all over the world. I have narrated the story of my Christian journey and spiritual trajectory many times. Christianity possesses two significant meaning for me. On the one hand, it has been a source of a deep, stimulating and continuing experience of faith that hold a person in awe of the divine and allows for personal and spiritual development. On the other hand, Christianity also possesses an intellectual interest that is stimulated by existential challenges, especially of the kind that a postcolonial lifeworld generates for those trying to make sense of their existence.

    For me, the relationship between these two dimensions of my relationship with Christianity reflects the perennial question of how faith and reason relate. This is a question that define a long trajectory of theological discourses in medieval philosophy. From the theologians and philosophers to the apologetics, reason has served as one critical tool for understanding the “why” behind the architecture of belief. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, hold quite some philosophically fascinating framework that allow reason and faith to sit together as the manifestation of divine intelligence. For Augustine, faith is needed to guide reason into virtuous action. For Aquinas, faith and reason are two complementary ways for apprehending divine truths. For Tertullian the Apologetic, on the other hand, faith and reason are critically opposed. When he asked, “What has Athens got to do with Jerusalem?” he was asking if there could be any form of relationship between reason and faith.

    READ ALSO; Obi’s defection sets teeth on edge

    In my lifelong search for discernment, I have articulated a frame of reference that enables me to hold strongly to my Christian faith while allowing my intellectual quest for enlightenment to continue without ceasing. Reason challenges my intellectual curiosity and allows me to increase learning in terms of how faith, knowledge and existence relate especially for billions of people across the world. Like the medieval churchmen, keeping faith and reason apart or in delicate balance has not always been easy for me. This is because my keen intellectual curiosity keeps exploring the boundaries where reason and human experiences challenge faith and spirituality. In this piece, permit me to reflect on such boundaries that, I believe, would further contribute to how religion, spirituality and Christianity can enable us to think about living together and building not only a personal but also a collective and ecumenical framework in a multi-religious space.

    My first question is how to understand Christianity’s relationship with non-Christian beliefs, especially in contexts where Christianity has to jostle for religious dominance with other religious belief systems? This is a fundamental question that bothers on how Christianity is diluted, concretized or complemented when it arrives in a different context in the process of its universal spread. Take the practice of Christianity in Nigeria as a good example. This raises three cogent concerns for me. One, how does Christianity relate with African cultures in ways that “culturalized” the faith without stigmatizing the cultural practice as fetish or idolatrous? The phenomenon of African Indigenous (or Independent) Churches (AIC) has been studied by scholars working in the area of African Christianity and Pentecostalism. The idea of the Aladura Church and the Christ Apostolic Church, for instance, provides a strong religious and spiritual framework for answering my question. But that of the Reformed Ogboni Fraternity does not. The ROF seems to represent an unsuccessful attempt to graft Christianity into a framework of esoteric and cultural framework.

    Two, the contextualization of Christianity—especially Pentecostal Christianity—within Nigeria’s tough postcolonial context of struggles and search for meaning has given birth to all sorts of caricatures that generate deep queries about the social mission of Christianity itself. No two people have spoken to this challenge as deeply as Karl Marx and Fela Anikulapo Kuti. On the global scene, Marx considers religion as the opium of the people; a delusional tool by which the priestly class keep the masses on a leash to an ideological frame that keeps exploiting them. In Africa and Nigeria, Fela lambasts the political and religious classes for deepening the crisis of meaning confronted by the people. “Shuffering and Shmiling” is Fela’s classic and devastating complement to Marx’s criticism. It is so easy, within this context, to see how Nigeria’s development condition could have served as the instigator for the dominance of the prosperity theology and the miracle mentality that have unfortunately become commercialized. From Christianity to Islam, we now have a huge cohort of charlatans and impostors who have beclouded the genuine spiritual experience of salvation and enlightenment for millions. And now we have abject Christians who are shrouded in sham religiosity devoid of deep spirituality that connect personal growth to collective responsibility towards others, and towards one’s nation. 

    The third point is even more fundamental. And it has to do with religion’s role in nation-building. We all are familiar with how religion has contributed immensely to the fragmentation of the Nigerian polity. The constant conflict and theological and political opposition, especially between Islam and Christianity, has continued to be the source of tension in the continuing attempt by successive governments to facilitate the project of achieving One Nigeria devoid of ethnic and religious animosity. Here, the spectre of theological absolutism rears its ugly head! In summary, this is the belief that one religion holds the key to the understanding of God’s plan for humans and the eternity. One immediately sees how and why such an absolutist claim (ostensibly canonized to foreclose regression of the faiths into syncretism), held by Islam and Christianity, could be the source of practices that undermine any ecumenical or inter-faith relations in Nigeria. Theological absolutism excludes other religions and their perspectives on the relationship between God and humans.

    I have always been deeply suspicious of theological absolutism, especially when it concerns my quest for an understanding of how God and humans interact. If God is all we have been saying about Him—the eternal and the divine that is unknowable sufficiently by the human mind—how then can one religion capture the entire essence of that God? My worry is even more aggravated within the complicity of Christianity, Islam and other faiths in Nigeria’s underdevelopment. The fundamental question is simple enough: How can Nigeria achieve a civic national space of mutual relations if religions eschew open-minded and ecumenical relationship with one another? Or, how can they step into the breach as a collective spiritual panacea to Nigeria’s myriad postcolonial predicaments if they attempt to exclude and cancel out one another as “false”? Indeed, for me, the combination of the caricaturing of the Christian faith mentioned earlier, as well as the refusal by many clerics to engage in ecumenical conversation, serves as the basis for my conviction that Christianity has arrived at a reformation point that explore its complexity and significance in a context like Nigeria.

    But then, I still have to content with my own attachment to Christianity and its construction of itself as the only religion that guarantees eternal life through the work of salvation done by Christ. How do I navigate Christianity’s theological absolutism without falling into the trap of excluding other faith from their attachment to their convictions? How am I not part of the refusal of inter-faith relations that I am suspicious about? These are crucial and fair questions for any Christian or even Muslim. Indeed, I had the conviction very early in my spiritual trajectory that the believer’s pilgrim journey is strictly personal and is self-validating. And this validation is achieved through personal experience of faith and theological conviction, and the guidance of spiritual mentors and masters in the faith. And here, I return to role of reason in my spiritual discernment. While I hold firmly to the limitation of reason in grasping spiritual enlightenment, I equally put a lot of weight on how limited human understanding of the vast stretch of mysteries not only behind the Christian faith but also in the universe as a whole. When the Bible, in I Corinthians 2:14, therefore insists that the natural understanding cannot grasp spiritual matters, I read this not only as the extension of the domain of faith beyond that of logic and reason. It is also the strategy for trusting my Christian faith to assist me in navigating my existential predicament without limiting other’s right to their own spiritual paths. More precisely, acknowledging, for instance, Christianity’s insistence on the role of Christ in God’s plan of reconciliation and redemption, does not necessarily imply invalidating other religions’ existence and spiritual understanding.      

    This is the firm implication of saying that the spiritual journey is deeply personal and self-validating. When I accept Christ’s injunction in John 14:6—“I am the way, the truth, and the life”—I accept it for myself as a pathway to spiritual meaning. And yet that injunction does not stand alone. It is wrapped in a complex relationship with other injunctions that insists that I must love my neighbors, give unto Ceasar what belongs to Ceasar, and pray for those in government. 

  • Islam’s Charter with Christianity

    For many Nigerian charlatans who claim to be clerics and preach to their congregations with instigation of hate speeches and unbridled hostility, there are many sources from which to learn a lesson. One of such sources is history which is globally recognized as a great teacher of man. Without history, there can neither be any experience for man nor any template for his future plans. It is on the fertile soil of history that the growth of man and the development of his society are firmly planted.

    Symbiotic Relationship

    Just as history makes man so does man makes history. But the impact of the latter outweighs that of the former by far in the trend of human civilization. However, the symbiotic relationship of both history and man is what keeps the world going.

    Makers of History

    In its characteristic nature as a teacher, history has made many people who continue to depend on its platform for livelihood. On the other hand, there are those who have made history to the benefit of other people even long after their demise.

    The greatest maker of human history, as universally acknowledged, is the greatest human being that ever lived. That human being is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah who was an unlettered desert man that paved way for global literacy and education of mankind without blemish. It was he who clearly distinguished education from literacy with his own practical example and opened the eyes of the whole world to the fact that literacy is just an instrument for documenting and preserving knowledge for posterity.  And that is one of the factors that makes him the greatest man that ever lived.

    Through a famous book entitled ‘The 100: A Ranking of the Most influential Persons in History’ and published in 1977, by a Jewish American astrophysicist and scholar, Michael Hart,  the consciousness of the contemporary world was drawn to the uniqueness of an unlettered man who turns out to be the most educated human being ever in history.

    It was in that book that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was named the greatest man that ever lived.

    And since the publication of that historic book, no other author or scholar of note has come up with an acknowledged research work to counter Michael Hart’s sense of judgment by providing a convincing alternative to the latter’s conclusion.

    Thus, contrary to cynics’ baseless propaganda against Islam and Prophet Muhammad (SAW), out of sheer envy, it was this greatest Prophet of Islam that taught mankind the act of religious tolerance and accommodation.

    Evidence of Greatness

    Greatness is neither by chance nor by sheer proclamation or attribution. Whoever can innovate a venture that becomes a heritage for multitudes of people across nations, centuries and generations is indeed an incontrovertible great person. That is one of the many factors that make Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the greatest man that ever lived.

    Historic Charter

    In recognition of Jesus Christ as his predecessor and fellow Apostle, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed a charter with some Christian leaders in 628 CE and the charter remains valid till today. The signing of that charter by the great Prophet was also an evidence that Islam recognizes authentic Christianity as a divine religion.

    In that year (628 CE), a Christian delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery travelled to Madinah to meet Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and seek from him protection of the Islamic government under his command. The objective was to elicit the support of the Islamic government in ensuring their security against the aggression of the Persian Empire.

    (St. Catherine’s Monastery is the world’s oldest Monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai which has a huge collection of Christian manuscripts second only to those of the Vatican City and it is known as a world heritage site).

    The Content of the Charter

    In response to the request of the Christian representatives cited above, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) them granted a written charter of rights as follows:

    “This is a message from Muhammad the son of Abdullah serving as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far that we (Muslims) are with them. Verily, I and all the servants of God, as well as the helpers of Islam hereby make promise to defend Christians because they are my citizens and by God, I stand out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them (concerning their way of worship). Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one should destroy a house of their religion or damage it or loot it. Whoever violates this has breached God’s covenant with mankind and disobeyed His Apostle.

    Verily, Christians are my allies and have my secure charter against all they hate. No one should force them to fight for a course in which they have no belief or compel them to migrate against their wish.

    Neither is the sacredness of their covenant to be violated nor their Monasteries to be disrespected. And if any damage should happen to their Monasteries by chance, they must not be prevented from repairing them. No Muslim should disobey this charter till the Last Day (end of the world)”.

    Before the Charter

    Prior to the charter mentioned above, several verses of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) acknowledging the divine mission of all the Prophets preceding him (Muhammad (SAW) including that of Jesus the son of Mary. And because of those Qur’anic revelations, no Muslim can claim to be a true believer in Islam without accepting Jesus the son of Mary as well as other Prophets ordained as Apostles of Allah. One of those Qur’anic revelations states as follows:

    “The Apostle of Allah (Muhammad SAW) believes in what was revealed to him and so do the entire Muslim faithful. Every one of them believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Apostles. We do not discriminate against any of His Apostles. They say “we hear and obey (the laws brought by those Apostles). Grant us your forgiveness Oh Lord! To you we shall all return….” (Q. 2: 285).

    Brethren in Faith

    The above charter shows that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) recognized a bond of brotherhood in faith between Muslims and Christians and that none of them should fight against the other (physically or psychologically) for the reason of differences in their modes of worship. And by validating the charter till the great Day of Judgment, the Prophet had precluded any future attempt to revoke the privileges contained in that charter by any nation, group or individuals.

    Implications of the Charter

    By implication, the inalienability of the  privileges contained in the above charter are remain irreversible from the primordial time to the contemporary time. Besides, one remarkable aspect of the charter is that it did not stipulate any condition for Christians to enjoy those privileges. It is because of that unprecedented charter that Muslims, all over the world, do not blame Christianity for any misdemeanor of a Christian or attack Christianity as a way of preaching Islam as some Christians do against Islam particularly in Nigeria.

    Reciprocation

    Believing that being followers of Jesus Christ was enough a condition to enjoy the privileges contained in the above charter, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) assumed that the Christians, would be civilized enough to reciprocate that unprecedented gesture whenever and wherever they coexist with Muslims not only by tolerating the latter’s mode of worship and way of life but also by refraining from any naked or avowed act of provocation or disdain against them, which could precipitate a religious rancour. Another noticeable aspect of the charter is the Prophet’s silence on any payment by the protectorate Christians which was the general norm among nations in those days.

    Thus, that ‘Charter of Rights’ was a free gift. And from it the reason becomes clear why the Islamic State under the command of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his rightly guided companions or disciples who became Caliphs after his demise never crossed swords with any Christian group or nation throughout their regimes. If any wars like those of the crusades ever broke out centuries later between Christians and Muslims such could only be attributed either to a breach of the charter by ignorant adherents of both religions. And that does not have anything to do with the tenets of the two religions.

    Upholding the Charter

    In upholding that charter, the second Caliph in Islam, Umar Bn Khattab, refused to observe Muslim prayer (Salat) inside the Church of Jerusalem when he visited the area following the liberation of that region by the Islamic State from the Persian Empire in which Zoroastrianism (worshiping of fire) was the religion. On that historic occasion, the Church of Jerusalem had been cleared by Muslim soldiers for the observance of Salat which Caliph Umar, as Head of State, was to lead. But when he was invited to lead the Salat, he simply declined and rather ordered the soldiers to find another place for Salat and keep the Church intact for the Christians to worship therein in their own way. He said he would not do what Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had prohibited before his demise. He then warned the Muslims who accompanied him never to convert Churches to Mosques for that would amount to religious aggression which was capable of breaching the Prophet’s charter with Christians.

    One God, One Faith

    A divine religion is like embassies to which Ambassadors are diplomatically assigned. The operations in those embassies are in accordance with the foreign policies of the home country of the mission to which an Ambassador is assigned. And just as the embassy premises are treated as part of the home country of the concerned mission so are the Ambassadors posted to those missions are accorded diplomatic immunity. And, in such cases, what is good for the goose is equally deemed good for the gander.

    Commercialization of Religion

    Ironically, today, in no other country is religion as commercialized as in Nigeria. Even the United States of America from where that obnoxious capitalist orientation was imported has been surpassed by some Nigerian charlatans calling themselves ‘men and women of god’. If such Nigerians claim to be religious at all, their dedication is rather to the money accruing from religion than to God that they claim to be worshipping.

    Evidence of Ignorance

    What most Nigerian leaders of Islamic and Christian religions do not seem to know is that the refusal of the adherents of both religions to study and understand the doctrines which guide those religions is the main cause of religious disharmony in the country today. This is however, not peculiar to Nigeria. It is global. Both Christians and Muslims jointly constitute more than half of the world’s population.

    And, it is from their common brook that the spiritual ripples which continually make the world restive emanate. If the adherents of both religions had endeavoured to mutually study and understand the doctrines that guide their ways in life, the world would not have come under religious spell as we have it today.

    Prophetic Revelation

    Before the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, a Qur’anic revelation came to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in 616 CE to confirm the brotherhood of Islam and Christianity. That revelation which formed a whole chapter in the Qur’an was entitled ‘The Chapter of Rome ’. It reads thus: “Rome, (the nation of the Christian Greeks) has been defeated in a neighbouring land. But after their defeat, they shall (themselves) gain victory within a few years. Allah is the Supreme Commander before and after. On that day (when they become victorious), the believers (Muslims and Christians) will rejoice in Allah’s help.

    Allah gives victory to whoever He wills. He is Mighty and Merciful. That is Allah’s promise; He never reneges on His promise” (Q. 30: 1-5).

    And true to that divine revelation, the Roman Empire surprisingly defeated the Persian Empire to the ecstasy of the Muslims just nine years after it was revealed. Besides, it will be recalled that the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned more than 37 times in the Glorious Qur’an giving more details of his birth and disappearance more vividly than can be found in the Bible. Also a whole chapter of the Qur’an is dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus confirming her chastity and the miraculous birth of Jesus. It is only in the Qur’an that the report of how Jesus spoke as an infant was revealed. That chapter is called ‘The Chapter of Maryam (Mary). How else can the unity of religious mission from the unity of God be confirmed?

    Orientalists’ Antics

    However, despite all the indisputable facts mentioned above, the Western Orientalists and their blind imitators in Nigeria who seek to foster discord between Christianity and Islam by all means, as a way of  enriching themselves materially in their commercialization of religion refuse to relent in that evil machination. Those are commercial the charlatans who want the world to believe that this same Prophet Muhammad (SAW), at the inception of Islam, held the Qur’an in one hand and the sword in the other while moving around to force people to accept Islam or be ready to die. In the exhibition of their blatant ignorance based on falsehood, they do not even think of the illogicality of such baseless falsehood as the Qur’an had not been compiled into a book before the demise of the Prophet. Logically, if one man had such a power to intimidate and force multitudes of people who opposed his divine mission to accept Islam by force could such a man have been compelled to migrate from Makkah (his home town) to Madinah for asylum? That shows how shallow the thought of liars can be in the process of fabricating falsehood.

    Conclusion

    The doctrine of one God one mission purportedly shared in the world today by three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) cannot be from the same perception. Each of these religions has its own revealed Book and their adherents practice their faiths according to the doctrines contained in those Books. It will therefore be wrong of adherents of one particular religion to adjudge those of others as deviants or infidels who must be exterminated.

    Religion is like an examination. Those who sit down to write with blue ink pen must not turn themselves into examiners using red ink pen to mark it. Paradise is Allah’s own domain. He admits whoever He wishes into it. And this is done not necessarily by sheer mortal charlatans’ recommendation. Only the Almighty Allah who chose our parents for us without our knowledge before we came into this world and who knows where each of us would finally be buried has the final say on everybody’s destination. If the truth must be told, the real cause of religious conflicts in Nigeria is not intolerance as often hypocritically claimed by some people but greedy provocation emanating from avarice under the guise of religion. Nigerian press is particularly guilty of this by fueling such provocations. It is wrong to expect tolerance to thrive in a society where provocation and injustice refuse to abate. Propagating a religion by denigrating another religion is an act of Satanic provocation. And those who want peace to prevail in Nigeria must desist from such intolerable act.

    Nigerian Church and Mosque leaders must refrain from negative sentiments and hypocrisy by dissuading their followers from interpreting the misbehaviour of some miscreants to mean the prescription of the religion which those miscreants claim to profess.

    No matter the level of hatred and hostility towards another religion, only the will of Allah will prevail.

  • Renewal of apostolic mandate

    Christianity birthed in the area now known as Osun North East Diocese of the Anglican Communion with the establishment of St. Philips Anglican Church in Otan-Ayegbaju.

    An itinerant trader and son of a prominent Ifa priest, Ogunjide Fariyike, who became a Christian in Lagos after his contact with European missionaries, brought his new found religion to his place of birth, Otan-Ayegbaju, in 1900. He was later joined by Pa Samuel Laseinde, Pa Joshua Omotoso, Pa Ogunjide Fariyike hosted the first service in his house.

    The first church was built at Ita Elokun, Otan-Ayegbaju and the dedication service was conducted on Tuesday November, 1st, 1900. From the beginning when Revd. Ayedun served in 1922 down to the incumbent Ven. M.T. Olaleke, a total of 17 vicars had served at St. Philips Cathedral Church, Otan-Ayegbaju.

    Even when Christianity has been firmly rooted in Iba, Obaagun, Otan-Ayegbaju, OraIgbomina, Ila-Orangun, with churches in these areas growing into Archdeaconries, there was a sustained agitation for the creation of a diocese to cement the foundation of the Christian religion and further spread the gospel far and near.

    The struggle led to the inauguration of a 28- man committee headed by late Chief J.A.O. Bamigbaye to work towards the establishment of Osun North-East Diocese. The work of the committee culminated in the approval of an application to the Board of Anglican Communion for the establishment of the new Diocese consisting of Otan-Ayegbaju, Ila-Orangun and Ora-Igbomina archdeaconries on 12th March, 2009. The Diocese was, however, inaugurated on 16th March, 2009 with Rt. Revd Humphrey Bamisebi Olumakaiye enthroned as the first Diocesan Bishop at St. Philips Anglican Church Cathedral, Otan-Ayegbaju, Boluwaduro Local Council, Osun State.

    As the first Diocesan Bishop, Rt. Rev. (Dr) Humprey Olumakaiye worked tirelessly in the Diocese to ensure it lives up to its name, the A-ONE Diocese, through church planting, establishment of schools, hospital and infrastructural development.

    A man of God with an unusual grace, who has been described as the Nehemiah of our time by his parishioners, Bishop Olumakaiye provided purposeful leadership that saw to the building of the ultramodern Bishop’s court at the Diocesan headquarters, Ogo-Oluwa, Ila-Orangun road, Otan-Ayegbaju.

    Also, five buildings that complimented the Bishop, court namely, the Library and Resource Centre, Archbishop Adebola Ademowo Amazing Grace Chapel, Olori Ololade Oyinlola Events Centre, Diocesan Office Complex and the Chaplain’s Quarters have all been completed.

    Bishop Olumakaiye established God of Glory Nursery and Primary Schools in Otan-Ayegbaju and Obaagun. Bishop Olawale Idowu Diocesan Memorial Hospital, Ora-Igbomina was also established to bring healthcare the people in the Diocese and beyond. His tenure witnessed an unprecedented growth in the Diocese with his special focus on the core mandate of the Church – evangelize the world and bring people to Christ.

    However, under ten years of his service before he moved on to become the Diocesan Bishop of Lagos Diocese in 2018, he planted 17 new churches within the diocese.

    Also, five preaching stations were upgraded into full pledged churches within the period under review. It is noteworthy that one of them, All Saints’ Anglican Church, Otan-Aiyegbaju, has within a short time become the seat of Otan-Ayegbaju Archdeaconry with a big church and a standard choir.

    In the quest to promote ministration of the gospel through music, the Pa J. A. O. Bamigbaye Diocesan School of Church Music was set up. It has produced music teachers and injected life and inspiration to worship within the Diocese. The 20-bedroom Hostel of St. Matthew’s Anglican Church Ila-Orangun and other construction work in progress under the Diocese in Iba, Obaagun, Iresi, Ora-Igbomina are being given due attention.

    To strengthen the faith of parishioners and Christians in Osun State and beyond, the Oluranti Ademowo Prayer House Mountain of Visitation was inaugurated by Bishop Olumakaiye, while the Women of Excellence Tele-Evangelism Programe on OSBC Television, Osogbo was anchored by Dr (Mrs) MotunrayoOlumakaiye, the wife of the Diocesan Bishop.

    As Rt. Revd Ebenezer Akorede Akinyelu who was consecrated at St. David’s Anglican Church Cathedral Ijomo, Akure, Ondo State on 29th March, 2019, as a Bishop of the Anglican Communion takes the mantle of leadership as the second Bishop of Osun North East Anglican Diocese, it is our prayer that this zealous worker, a preacher of the good news in season and out of season, who has been anointed to carry on with the propagation of the gospel and tender the flock of God be under the direction of the Holy Spirit to make a huge success of the tasks ahead of him.

    The parishioners of Osun North East Diocese welcome him to Diocese in peace and in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

    • Olaleke is the Dean, Cathedral of St Phillip’s Anglican Church, Otan-Ayegbaju, Osun State.

  • Islam’s charter with Christianity

    For Nigerian many charlatans who claim to be clerics and preach to their congregations with hate speeches and unbridled hostility, there are many sources from which to learn a lesson. One of such sources is history which is globally recognized as a great teacher of man. Without history, there can neither be any experience for man nor any basis for his future plans. It is on the fertile soil of history that the growth of man and the development of his society are firmly planted.

    Just as history makes man so does man make history. But the impact of the latter by far outweighs that of the former in the trend of human civilization. However, the symbiotic relationship of both history and man is what keeps the world going.

     

    Makers of history

    In its characteristic nature as a teacher, history has made many people who continue to depend on its platform for livelihood. On the other hand, there are those who have made history to the benefit of other people even long after their demise.

    The greatest maker of human history, as universally acknowledged, is the greatest human being that ever lived. That human being is Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the son of Abdullah who was an illiterate desert man that paved way for global literacy and education of mankind without blemish. It was he who clearly distinguished education from literacy with his own practical example and opened the eyes of the whole world to the fact that literacy is just an instrument for documenting and preserving knowledge for posterity.  And that is one of the factors that makes him the greatest man that ever lived.

    Through a famous book entitled ‘The 100: A Ranking of the Most influential Persons in History’ and published in 1977, by a Jewish American astrophysicist and scholar, Michael Hart,  the consciousness of the contemporary world is drawn to the uniqueness of an unlettered man who turns out to be the most educated human being ever in history. It was in that book that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was named the greatest man that ever lived.

    And since the publication of that historic book, no other author or scholar of note has come up with an acknowledged research work to counter Michael Hart’s sense of judgment by providing a convincing alternative to his conclusion.

    Thus, contrary to cynics’ baseless propaganda against Islam and Prophet Muhammad (SAW), out of sheer envy, it was this greatest Prophet of Islam that taught mankind the act of religious tolerance and accommodation.

     

    Evidence of greatness

    Greatness is neither by chance nor by sheer proclamation or attribution. Whoever can innovate a venture that becomes a heritage for multitudes of people across nations, centuries and generations is indeed an incontrovertible great person. That is one of the many factors that make Prophet Muhammad (SAW) the greatest man that ever lived.

     

     The historic charter

    In recognition of Jesus Christ as his predecessor and fellow Apostle, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed a charter with some Christian leaders in 628 CE and the charter remains valid till today. The signing of that charter by the great Prophet was also an evidence that Islam recognizes authentic Christianity as a divine religion.

    In that year (628 CE), a Christian delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery travelled to Madinah to meet Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and seek from him protection of the Islamic government under his command. The objective was to elicit the support of the Islamic government in ensuring their security against the aggression of the Persian Empire. (St. Catherine’s Monastery is the world’s oldest Monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai which has a huge collection of Christian manuscripts second only to those of the Vatican City and it is known as a world heritage site).

     

    The content of the charter

    In response to the request of the Christian representatives cited above, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) them granted a written charter of rights as follows:

    “This is a message from Muhammad the son of Abdullah serving as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far that we (Muslims) are with them. Verily, I and all the servants of God, as well as the helpers of Islam hereby make promise to defend Christians because they are my citizens and by God, I stand out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them (concerning their way of worship). Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one should destroy a house of their religion or damage it or loot it. Whoever violates this has breached God’s covenant with mankind and disobeyed His Apostle. Verily, Christians are my allies and have my secure charter against all they hate. No one should force them to fight for a course in which they have no belief or compel them to migrate against their wish. Neither is the sacredness of their covenant to be violated nor their Monasteries to be disrespected. And if any damage should happen to their Monasteries by chance, they must not be prevented from repairing them. No Muslim should disobey this charter till the Last Day (end of the world)”.

     

     Before the charter

    Prior to the covenant mentioned above, several verses of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) acknowledging the divine mission of all the Prophets preceding him (Muhammad (SAW) including that of Jesus the son of Mary. And because of those Qur’anic revelations, no Muslim can claim to be a true believer in Islam without accepting Jesus the son of Mary as well as other Prophets ordained Apostles of Allah. One of those Qur’anic revelations states as follows:

    “The Apostle of Allah (Muhammad SAW) believes in what was revealed to him and so do the entire Muslim faithful. Every one of them believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Apostles. We do not discriminate against any of His Apostles. They say “we hear and obey (the laws brought by those Apostles). Grant us your forgiveness Oh Lord! To you we shall all return….” (Q. 2: 285).

     

    Brethren in faith

    The above charter shows Prophet Muhammad (SAW) recognized the fact that Muslims and Christians were brethren in faith and none of them should fight against the other (physically or psychologically) for the reason of differences in their modes of worship. And by validating the charter till the great Day of Judgment, the Prophet had precluded any future attempt to revoke the privileges contained in that charter by any nation, group or individuals.

     

    Implication of the charter

    By implication, the privileges contained in the above covenant are inalienable, not only in the primordial time but also in the contemporary time. Besides, one remarkable aspect of the charter is that it did not stipulate any condition for Christians to enjoy those privileges. It is because of that sacrosanct charter that Muslims, all over the world, do not blame Christianity for any misdemeanor of a Christian or attack Christianity as a way of preaching Islam as some Christians do against Islam particularly in Nigeria.

     

    Reciprocation

    Believing that being followers of Jesus Christ was enough a condition to enjoy the privileges contained in the above charter, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) assumed that the Christians, would be civilized enough to reciprocate that unprecedented gesture whenever and wherever they coexist with Muslims not only by tolerating the latter’s mode of worship and way of life but also by refraining from any naked or avowed act of provocation or disdain against them, which could precipitate a religious rancour. Another noticeable aspect of the charter is the Prophet’s silence on any payment by the protectorate Christians which was the general practice among nations in those days. Thus, that ‘Charter of Rights’ was a free gift. And from it the reason becomes clear why the Islamic State under the command of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his rightly guided companions or disciples who became Caliphs after his demise never crossed swords with any Christian group or nation throughout their regimes. If any wars like those of the crusades ever broke out centuries later between Christians and Muslims such could only be attributed either to a breach of the charter by ignorant adherents of both religions. And that does not have anything to do with the tenets of the two religions.

     

    Upholding the charter

    In upholding that charter, the second Caliph in Islam, Umar Bn Khattab, refused to observe Muslim prayer (Salat) inside the Church of Jerusalem when he visited the area following the liberation of that region by the Islamic State from the Persian Empire in which Zoroastrianism ( worshiping of fire) was the religion. On that historic occasion, the Church of Jerusalem had been cleared by Muslim soldiers for the observance of Salat which Caliph Umar, as Head of State, was to lead. But when he was invited to lead the Salat, he simply declined and rather ordered the soldiers to find another place for Salat and keep the Church intact for the Christians to worship therein. He said he would not do what Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had prohibited before his demise. He then warned the Muslims who accompanied him never to convert Churches into Mosques for that would amount to religious aggression and capable of breaching the Prophet’s charter with Christians.

     

    One God, One faith

    A divine religion is like the embassies to which Ambassadors are assigned. The operations in those embassies are in accordance with the policies of the home country of the diplomatic missions to which the Ambassadors are assigned. As the embassy premises are treated as part of the home country of the concerned mission so are the Ambassadors posted to those missions are accorded diplomatic immunity. And, in such cases, what is good for the goose is equally deemed good for the gander.

     

    Commercialisation of religion

    Ironically, today, in no other country is religion as commercialized as in Nigeria. Even the United States of America from where that obnoxious capitalist orientation was imported has been surpassed by some Nigerian charlatans calling themselves ‘men and women of god’. If such Nigerians claim to be religious at all, their dedication is rather to the money accruing from religion than to God that they claim to be worshipping.

     

    Evidence of ignorance

    What most Nigerian leaders of Islamic and Christian religions do not seem to know is that the refusal of the adherents of both religions to study and understand the doctrines which guide those religions is the main cause of religious disharmony in the country today. This is however , not peculiar to Nigeria. It is global. Both Christians and Muslims jointly constitute more than half of the world’s population. And, it is from their common brook that the spiritual ripples which continually make the world restive emanate. If the adherents of both religions had endeavoured to mutually study and understand the doctrines that guide their ways in life, the world would not have come under religious spell as we have it today.

     

    Prophetic revelation

    Prior to the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, a Qur’anic revelation came to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in 616 CE to confirm the brotherhood of Islam and Christianity. That revelation which formed a whole chapter in the Qur’an was entitled ‘The Chapter of Rome ’. It reads thus: “Rome, (the nation of the Christian Greeks) has been defeated in a neighbouring land. But after their defeat, they shall (themselves) gain victory within a few years. Allah is the Supreme Commander before and after. On that day (when they become victorious), the believers (Muslims and Christians) will rejoice in Allah’s help. Allah gives victory to whoever He wills. He is the Mighty One, the Merciful. That is Allah’s promise; He never reneges on His promise” (Q. 30: 1-5).

    And true to that prophecy, the Roman Empire surprisingly defeated the Persian Empire to the ecstasy of the Muslims just nine years after it was revealed. Besides, it will be recalled that the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned more than 37 times in the Glorious Qur’an giving more details of his birth and disappearance much more than can be found in the Bible. Also a whole chapter of the Qur’an is dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus confirming her chastity and the miraculous birth of Jesus. It is only in the Qur’an that the report of how Jesus spoke as an infant was revealed. That chapter is called ‘The Chapter of Maryam (Mary). How else can the unity of religious mission from the unity of God be confirmed?

     

    Orientalists’ antics

    However, despite all the indisputable facts mentioned above, the Western Orientalists and their blind imitators in Nigeria who seek to foster discord between Christianity and Islam by all means as a way of   enriching themselves in their commercialization of religion. Those are commercial the charlatans who want the world to believe that this same Prophet Muhammad (SAW), at the inception of Islam, held the Qur’an in one hand and the sword in the other and moved around to force people to accept Islam or be ready to die. In the exhibition of their blatant ignorance based on falsehood, they do not even think of the illogicality of such baseless falsehood as the Qur’an had not been rendered into a book before the the demise of the Prophet. Logically, if one man had such a power to intimidate and force multitudes of people to accept Islam by force could such a man have been compelled to migrate from Makkah (his home town) to Madinah for assylum? That shows how shallow the thought of liars is in the process of fabricating falsehood.

     

    Conclusion

    The doctrine of one God one mission purportedly shared in the world today by three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) cannot be from the same perception. Each of these religions has its own revealed Book and the adherents practice their faiths according to the doctrines contained in those Books. It will therefore be wrong of adherents of one particular religion to adjudge those of others as deviants or infidels who must be exterminated.

    Religion is like an examination. Those who sit down to write it using blue ink pen must not turn themselves into examiners using red ink pen to mark it. Paradise is Allah’s own domain. He admits whoever He wishes into it. And this is done not necessarily by sheer mortal’s recommendation. Only the Almighty Allah who chose our parents for us without our knowledge before we came into this world and who knows where each of us would finally be buried has the final say on everybody’s destination.

    If the truth must be told, the real cause of religious conflicts in Nigeria is not intolerance as often hypocritically claimed by some people but provocation under the guise of religion. Nigerian press is particularly guilty of this by fueling such provocation. It is wrong to expect tolerance to thrive in a society where provocation and injustice refuse to abate. Propagating a religion by denigrating another is an act of provocation. And those who want peace to prevail in Nigeria must desist from such intolerable act.

    Nigerian Church and Mosque leaders must refrain from negative sentiments and hypocrisy by dissuading their followers from interpreting the misbehaviour of some miscreants to mean the prescription of the religion they claim to profess.

  • Compassionate and deep

    Love, sacrifice and compassion are core to the Christian tenet. The hungry multitude, who came to hear the sermon of Jesus, were fed because Christ had compassion. The Golden Rule: love your neighbour as yourself, strikes at the very fundaments of Christianity. And supreme sacrifice — Christ died so the rest of humanity could live — is the very essence that drives Christianity; and makes it unique among its adherents.

    Yet, the general complaint is that the Church, in Nigeria today, is fast derailing from these pristine ideals. Nevertheless, it is only those ideals that separate it from other worldly organisations. In the blame book of many, the Pentecostal strain of the church — not the conventional denominations like the Catholics, Baptists, Anglicans, etc; or even the traditional Pentecostals, like the Cherubim and Seraphim (aka the Aladura), Celestial Church of Christ (CCC), Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), etc — are the chief culprits, with their rash of prosperity preaching; and loud quiet on salvation and grace.

    Which is why the laudable project, in Gbagada, Lagos, by the Deeper Life Bible Church (DLBC), is something to cheer. It is a good pointer to other churches, to navigate their paths back to social relevance, aside from their core duty of ministering to the spiritual needs of their respective members.

    DLBC just completed, as part of its national headquarters, a 30, 000-capacity auditorium, valued at no less than N5 billion, on Oduwaiye Street, Gbagada, Lagos. But the church reckoned, after the facility’s inauguration, a sharp spike in the number of visiting worshippers — as indeed it was, in the late 1980s, when the fledging church was grabbing public attention.

    So, it thought out a four-storey car park, which first three floors, cased in a basement, could hold 555 cars.  The fourth floor, the only one level to the surface, would take buses conveying worshippers. For this purpose, the church has reportedly procured 50 new buses — with a pledge of more — to ferry worshippers. As a policy, it is appealing to its members to board the buses and leave their cars at home, unless that is unavoidable. The present capacity of the bus segment of the park is 76 buses.

    Aside, for the purpose of the immediate community and general non-worshippers, it also conceived a flyover. While its members would access the car-park underneath the bridge, the community and other passers-by would zoom over the bridge, to their respective businesses, undisturbed by church activity.  The bridge, reportedly constructed by construction giant, Julius Berger, is also an exemplar in church-government cooperation for societal good. Though the church picked the bill, the project wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation of the requisite ministries of Lagos State, which had to grant approvals and supervise quality, at each stage of the project. The new bridge, apart from beautifying the landscape, has the added value of boosting transport and commerce. It is a new high in a church’s corporate social responsibility (CSR).

    DLBC’s Pastor Kayode Dada, project architect, at a media briefing in Lagos, spoke of the philosophy behind the bridge: “The reason for flying the bridge across Oduwaiye Street is so that we can have the worshippers pass under the bridge, and the community can easily use the bridge. The aim is to minimise both human and vehicular traffic. We felt the best thing is to take them [worshippers] completely out of the road. So,” he further explained, “there won’t be any pain to motorists in the whole of Gbagada.”

    He also explained the basement, housing three of the car park’s four storeys: “We were able to go down because already there was a valley. So, we pushed it inside to create space underneath, without disturbing the adjacent roads. And you can’t go too high otherwise you will erase the elevation of the church.”

    Thoughtful — along the lines of pristine Christian compassion, more so when the bridge boasts traffic lights, at both ends, to further make traffic, by non-worshippers, a safer and more pleasurable experience. This, indeed, is a welcome gesture.

    Under normal circumstances, it is not the business of the Church to construct roads and build bridges. That is the forte of the government, as collector, manager and administrator of tax payers’ money and sundry public funds. So, that chore cannot be transferred to churches.

    Still here, there is a happy marriage between church business and public comfort. The beauty of this bridge-car park project is that DLBC has navigated a difficult route and arrived at an equitable destination, for both church and host community. Not many churches could boast such record, in a milieu where churches are daily being accused of flint-heartedness; towards not only their own members but also against their host communities.

    That is why more churches should follow this DLBC lead in social relevance and sensitivity to the environment. The Pentecostals, especially, need to take a cue from this gesture; and strive to improve their greatly battered image among the populace.

    In times of great peril and mass angst, the Church should be a citadel of hope and haven of general comfort, even while ministering to the immediate spiritual nourishment of its members. The church in Nigeria today, in the estimation of many, has fallen short of this golden mandate.

    That is why this DLBC initiative could not have come at a better time. Let other churches follow suit, in their own different ways.

    Every church should be a blessing to its environment. That is the golden point the Deeper Life Christian Ministry has made, by its Gbagada project.

     

  • Leah Sharibu won’t be abandoned – Buhari 

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday said that he is as committed to the freedom of the only Dapchi schoolgirl still in captivity as he was to the girls’ freedom when all 110 were in the captivity of Boko Haram terrorists.

    According to him, his administration will not relent in efforts to bring Leah Sharibu safely back home to her parents as it has done for the other girls after she was held back by the terrorists over her reported decision not to convert from Christianity to Islam.

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and publicity, Garba Shehu, said that Buhari is fully conscious of his duty under the constitution to protect all Nigerians, irrespective of faith, ethnic background or geopolitical location and will not shirk in this responsibility.

    It reads “The President is equally mindful of the fact that true followers of Islam all over the world respect the injunction that there is no compulsion in religion.

    “* To this effect, no one or group can impose its religion on another.

    “His heart goes out to the isolated parents who must watch others rejoice while their own daughter is still away.

    “The lone Dapchi girl, Leah, will not be abandoned.

    “President Buhari assures the Sharibu family that he will continue to do all he can to ensure that they also have cause to rejoice with their daughter soon.”

    Read Also: Buhari to receive released Dapchi schoolgirls Friday

  • Islam’s charter with Christianity

    ‘In the introduction to his autobiography entitled ‘My Odyssey’, Nigeria’s first democratic President, Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe wrote thus: “Man comes into the world and while he lives, he embarks upon a series of activities absorbing experience which enables him to formulate a philosophy of life and to chart his courses of action. But then, he dies. Nevertheless, his biography remains a guide to those of the living who may need guidance either as a warning on the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both”.

    The above philosophical quote serves as a reminder of what the divinely appointed Apostles of Allah represented in the lives of their followers. Those Apostles were men who came into the world as Ambassadors of one and the only God. Yes, they came at different times, from different lands and with different tongues, nevertheless, their message was only one and the same. That message is like a nation’s diplomatic mission abroad. Any qualified person could be appointed as an Ambassador to manage the mission. And from time to time the Ambassador could be changed but the mission remains the same as much as the nation which they represent remains a nation. Some of those Ambassadors could though be empowered as plenipotentiary it is unimaginable that any of them would deviate from the diplomatic policy that makes him an Ambassador for his country.

    Thus, from Adam, the great ancestor of man to Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the last of all Apostles of Allah, the message they came to deliver was one and the same because those Apostles were all sent by only one and the same God. If any difference is perceived in their mission, it could only be attributable to human ignorance through interpretations or misinterpretations in time and space.

    Each time I hear of killing, maiming or resorting to terrorism in the name of religion I feel scandalized. This is not just because I belong to a religion and I am involved in its propagation but also because I know the value of life and the vice in terminating it extra-judicially. Personally, I see those who kill people of other religions for the simple reason of difference in faith as brutal vandals waging war not just against humanity but also against God.

    Anybody who kills or maims or indulges in terrorism may claim to be an adherent of a religion but cannot genuinely claim to be acting for that religion. No divine religion prescribes killing or maiming as an act of worship. Religion may be used surreptitiously as a cover for such heinous act but the real motive is far away from religion.

     

    Conversation

    In a fortuitous casual conversation sometime ago over Nigeria’s disturbing political situation, a top Christian cleric enthusiastically told this columnist that Nigerians were the most religious people in the world. Yours sincerely did not agree with his assertion but to avoid any argument relating to religion I decided to keep mute. However, not comfortable with my silence, my interlocutor asked for my reaction to his statement. And when I asked him for the evidence of his alleged religiousness in Nigerians, he cited the ubiquity of Churches and Mosques as well as the length of time people spend worshiping in those sanctuaries as evidence. He added that even Muslims worship on Sundays nowadays citing examples of NASFAT, FATHIU QUAREEB and other ‘Assalatu’ groups. In response, I grinned amusedly and shook my head in disagreement. I then told him that in Islam, worshiping does not necessarily take any lengthy time as the number of times to worship per day is divinely specified and no daily Salat takes more than ten minutes on the maximum. I said as for the ubiquity of Churches and Mosques in Nigeria, it is not only an evidence of disunity among the so-called worshippers but also an indication of deification of ‘MONEY’. And while insisting that religion is the biggest business in Nigeria’s private sector today, I concluded that most Nigerians would rather sweat for the purpose of money than for the love of God citing the shameless preaching of prosperity and atrocious style of accumulating wealth by the so-called religious leaders as examples.

    I then challenged the Reverend gentleman to imagine removing money from Churches and Mosques in Nigeria today and see what would remain of them. I also went further to correct his misconception that Muslims now worship on Sundays by pointing out to him that Muslims only resorted to congregating on Sundays for prayers when Thursdays and Fridays which served as their cultural weekend days before Nigeria’s colonisation were forcefully turned into Saturdays and Sundays for them by the colonialists. After a long time of silence the Clergy man nodded in agreement with my analytical observation and confessed that until then he never gave any thought to the atrocious role which money plays in Nigeria’s religious activities.

     

    Evidence of Ignorance

    What most Nigerian leaders of Islamic and Christian religions do not seem to know is that the refusal of the adherents of both religions to study and understand the doctrines which guide those religions is the main cause of religious disharmony in the country today. This is however, not peculiar to Nigeria. It is global. Both Christians and Muslims jointly constitute more than half of the world’s population.

    And, it is from their common pond that the spiritual ripples which consistently make the world restive emanate. If the adherents of both religions had endeavoured to mutually study and understand the doctrines that guide their ways in life, the world would not have come under religious spell as we have today.

    How many Christian or Muslim leaders know, for instance, that in recognition of Jesus Christ as his predecessor and fellow Apostle, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) signed a charter with some Christian leaders in the year 628 CE and the charter remains valid till today? In that year (628 CE), a Christian delegation from St. Catherine’s Monastery went to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to seek the protection of the Islamic government under his command. The objective was to elicit the support of the Islamic government in ensuring their security against the aggression of the Persian Empire. (St. Catherine’s Monastery is the world’s oldest Monastery located at the foot of Mt. Sinai which has a huge collection of Christian manuscripts second only to those of the Vatican and is known as a world heritage site). Prior to that event, many verses of the Qur’an had been revealed to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) acknowledging the divine mission of all the Prophets preceding him (Muhammad (SAW) including that of Jesus Christ. And because of those revelations, no Muslim can claim to be a true believer in Islam without accepting Jesus the son of Mary as a Prophet of God. One of those revelations states as follows:

    “The Apostle of Allah (Muhammad SAW) believes in what was revealed to him and so do the entire Muslim faithful. Every one of them believes in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Apostles. We do not discriminate against any of His Apostles. They say “we hear and obey (the laws brought by those Apostles). Grant us your forgiveness Oh Lord! To you we shall all return….” (Q. 2: 285).

    Another verse of the Qur’an states: “There is no compulsion in religion. True guidance has become distinct from stray. Whoever renounces evil and believes fully in God has grasped the most reliable chord that never breaks. God is all-hearing, all knowing” (Q. 2: 256).

     

    The Charter

    In response to the request of the Christian representatives cited above, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) granted them a written charter of rights as follows: “This is a message from Muhammad the son of Abdullah serving as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far that we (Muslims) are with them. Verily, I and all the servants of God, as well as the helpers of Islam hereby make promise to defend

    Christians because they are my citizens and by God! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them (concerning their way of worship). Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one should destroy a house of their religion or damage it or loot it.

    Whoever violates this has breached God’s charter and disobeyed His Apostle. Verily, Christians are my allies and have my secure charter against all they hate. No one should force them to fight for a course in which they have no belief or compel them to migrate against their wish. Neither is the sacredness of their covenant to be violated nor their Churches to be disrespected. And if any damage should happen to their Churches, they must not be prevented from repairing them. No Muslim should disobey this covenant till the Last Day (end of the world)”. By this charter, Prophet Muhammad (SAW) asserted that Muslims and Christians were brethren in faith and no one of them should fight against the other on the basis of religion. And by validating the charter till the great Day of Judgment, the Prophet had precluded any future attempt to revoke the privileges contained in that charter by any nation, group or individuals. By implication, those privileges are inalienable. Besides, one remarkable aspect of the charter is that it did not stipulate any condition for Christians to enjoy the privileges.

     

    Reciprocation

    Believing that being followers of Jesus Christ was enough a condition to enjoy those privileges, the Prophet assumed that the Christians, would be civilized enough to reciprocate that unprecedented gesture wherever they coexist with Muslims not only by tolerating the latter’s mode of worship and way of life but also by refraining from any naked or avowed act of provocation against them which could precipitate a religious rancour. Another noticeable aspect of the charter is the Prophet’s silence on any payment by the protectorate Christians which was the general practice among nations in those days. Thus, that ‘Charter of Rights’ was a free gift. And from it the reason becomes clear why the Islamic State under the command of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) or any of his rightly guided disciples who became Caliphs never crossed swords with any Christian group or nation throughout their regimes. If any wars like those of the crusades ever broke out subsequently between Christians and Muslims it was centuries after the demise of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the Caliphs and that could not be attributed to Islam as a religion. Such could have happened due to a deliberate breach by either or both sides on the basis of human whim.

    And in upholding that charter, the second Caliph, Umar Bn Khattab, refused to observe Salat inside the Church of Jerusalem when he visited the area following the liberation of that region by the Islamic State from the Persian Empire in which Zoroastrianism (worshiping of fire) was the religion. The Church of Jerusalem had been cleared by Muslim soldiers for the observance of Salat which Umar, as Head of State, was to lead. But when he was invited to lead the Salat, he simply ordered the soldiers to find another place for Salat and keep the Church intact for the Christians saying he would not do that which the Prophet prohibited. He then warned the Muslims who accompanied him never to convert Churches into Mosques for that would amount to bad precedent capable of breaching the Prophet’s charter with Christians.

     

    Prophetic Revelation

    Prior to the Prophet’s migration from Makkah to Madinah, a prophetic revelation came into the Qur’an in 616 CE which confirmed the brotherhood of Islam and Christianity. That revelation which formed a whole chapter in the Qur’an was entitled ‘The Chapter of Rome ‘. It started thus: “Rome, (the nation of the Christian Greeks) has been defeated in a neighbouring land. But after their defeat, they shall (themselves) gain victory within a few years. Allah is the Supreme Commander before and after. On that day (when they become victorious), the believers (Muslims and Christians) will rejoice in Allah’s help.

    Allah gives victory to whoever He wills. He is the Mighty One, the Merciful. That is Allah’s promise; He never reneges on His promise” (Q. 30: 1-5).

    And true to that prophecy, the Roman Empire surprisingly defeated the Persian Empire to the ecstasy of the Muslims just nine years after that revelation and thereby paved way for Christianity to be off the manacle of the pagan Persian Empire and to thrive once again side by side with Islam. Besides, the name of Jesus Christ is mentioned about 37 times in the Glorious Qur’an giving more details about his birth and disappearance than can’t be found in the Bible. Also a whole chapter of the Qur’an is dedicated to Mary the mother of Jesus confirming her chastity and the miracle of the birth of Jesus. That chapter is called ‘The Chapter of Maryam (Mary).

     

    Orientalists’ Antics

    However, despite all the indisputable facts mentioned above, the Western Orientalists and others who seek to foster discord between Christianity and Islam continue to focus and disseminate the differences between both religions with the intent of causing permanent conflict among their adherents. Those are the people who want the world to believe that this same Prophet Muhammad (SAW) held the Qur’an in one hand and the sword in another forcing people to accept Islam or be ready to die. The depth of their ignorance does not even reflect the illogicality of such blatant lie as the Qur’an was not compiled into a book when the Prophet was alive. And if one man had such a power to intimidate multitude enemies would he be forced to migrate?

     

    Conclusion

    The doctrine of one God one mission purportedly shared in the world today by three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) cannot be from the same perception. Each of these religions has its own revealed Book and the adherents practice their faiths according to the doctrines contained in those Books. It will therefore be wrong of adherents of one particular religion to adjudge those of others as deviants or infidels who must be exterminated.

    Religion is like an examination. Those who sit down to write it using blue ink pen must not turn themselves into examiners using red ink pen to mark it. Paradise is Allah’s own domain. He admits whoever He wishes into it. And this is done not necessarily by sheer mortal’s recommendation. Only the Almighty Allah who chose our parents for us without our knowledge before we came into this world and who knows where each of us would finally be buried has the final say on everybody’s destination.

    If the truth must be told, the real cause of religious conflicts in Nigeria is not intolerance as often hypocritically claimed by some people but provocation under the guise of religion. Nigerian press is particularly guilty of this by fueling such provocation. It is wrong to expect tolerance to thrive in a society where provocation and injustice refuse to abate. Propagating a religion by denigrating another is an act of provocation. And those who want peace to prevail in Nigeria must desist from such intolerable act.

    Nigerian Church and Mosque leaders must refrain from negative sentiments and hypocrisy by dissuading their followers from interpreting the misbehaviour of some miscreants to mean the prescription of the religion they proclaim.

  • The cant in Christianity

    The cant in Christianity

    One of the definitions of the word CANT in the Meriam – Webster dictionary on my phone is: the expression or repetition of conventional or trite opinions or sentiments, especially the insincere use of pious words.

    Another definition they give is: to talk hypocritically.

    Something I find unfair to people is the insidious but active attempt to turn this one particular cant into something conventional and thus make it commonly acceptable.

    I am referring to the coinage and intended denotation of the expression ‘ember months’ (ember as used in this context is NOT in the dictionary).

    This relatively new phrase refers to the months from September to December; the year end.  More troubling is the selling to the consciousness of the populace that these months spell doom, they harbor danger, that they are harbingers of death.

    The myth of the ember months is carefully spread with the aim of instilling fear and dread in the minds of people.  Grievous is the fact that many Christian leaders are the perpetrators.

    Karl Marx said it that – Religion is the Opium of the People – the ‘ember months’ myth is a classic example.

    It appears to me that with the lull in church programs that characterize the months after Easter and before Christmas, these ‘men of God’ feel a need to step up church activities a while before December when, once again, church attendance reaches a peak.  Those folks who would never go to church all year tend to present themselves there every December 31st night or every Christmas day.  That’s not enough for those prophets, so they spook people into attending church one quarter earlier – throughout the ‘ember months’.

    Annually now from September, their billboards begin to spring up with signs like

    – You shall survive the Ember months

    – The Ember months Will Not See Me (really!)

    Even general prayer points tend to differ.  You will not be a victim of Motor Accidents.  Amen – people chorus their Amen for more vigorously, now that it’s December.

    But coming from the Road Safety Corps, here is what the Public Enlightenment Officer, Akwa Ibom Sector, Mr. Godsgift Uwem has to say, “To those of us in the FRSC, the ember months are just like any other month, except that a perception the public has towards ember months is to an extent a myth”.  A bit convoluted!

    But I agree, the whole thing is just a perception.  Purposely planted, for pecuniary gains: More fear, More Gathering. More Gathering, More Offering.

    But their myths and fears have completely negated the beautiful promises God had made to man concerning the end of the year : that I am trying to counter.

    God sends his sunshine on everyone including even criminals, and this is patent and obvious (Matt. 5:45b).

    God never discriminates, so his promises for the year end are YOURS and MINE, whatever your religious persuasions; even if you have none!

    And his promises are forever settled.

    Lastly, God’s promise for the end of the year is: thou (God) crownest the year with thy goodness; and the paths drop fatness, Psalms 65:11.

    And so I say simply IGNORE those prophets!  Never You Worry.  Just Be Happy!

     

    Have a Glorious Month of December.

     

    REPONSES

     

    BLAMING BUHARI

    It always amazes me when a family disagreement or their inadequacies are wont ‘explained as caused by government or BUHARI for God’s sake.

    0807…1409

     

    Please keep it up, people are really suffering.

    Okoye from Anambra

     

    PASSPORT PAINS

    It is unfortunate that people should go through hell in their quest to obtain travel passports.  A passport costs N15,000, minimum wage is N18,000, then a new mathematical theory is minimum wage, or travel passport.

    Adeniji Moshood, Okeho Oyo State.

     

    Mikky our major problem is leadership

    0903…361

    Check well before writing, we are daily assailed by Wike’s vituperations against Amaechi and now he doesn’t want to touch anything of the latter.

    08033…886.

    Dear Mikky, OBJ and IBB introduced military dimension to rigging.

    Dr. C. Nwagwu

     

    KILLER SPOUSES

    A candid talk – I don’t touch my wife’s phone no matter how long it rings, she too knows she has no business with my phone.

    Fasasi Abdulateef, Ilorin

    My wife answers my calls but she doesn’t usually read my texts.

    Mr. Henry

     

    I answer my wife’s calls and she answers mine.

    Mr. Phillip

    07055547031 SMS/Whatsapp

  • 125 years of Christianity in Imagbon, Ogun

    125 years of Christianity in Imagbon, Ogun

    Activities marking the 125th anniversary of Christianity in Imagbon, Odogbolu Local Government Area of Ogun State begins on Sunday,October 8.

    The celebration organised by St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Imagbon commences with candle light procession by 7pm.

    Other activities include revival on Tuesday, quiz on Wednesday and debate on Thursday.

    A football match holds on Friday while drama and health talks are scheduled for Saturday.

    The anniversary will be rounded off next Sunday with thanksgiving service, exhibition, awards and launching.

     

  • ‘Christianity under attacks in Nigeria’

    Pastor Bosun Emmanuel is Secretary Christian Elders Forum (CEF) and coordinator of CAN Trust Fund. He speaks with Sunday Oguntola on the imperatives of the Fund and dangers facing Christians in the nation. Excerpts:

    How did the idea of CAN TRUST Fund come to be?

    We realised the Nigerian church under the present dispensation, taking into cognisance the various acts of attack on Christians and Christian communities in Nigeria, particularly in the northern part of the country, would need to join hands to succour the Christian victims.

    There are families that have been scattered, families that have been devastated. There are children who have become orphaned. There are entire Christian communities that have been totally destroyed.

    On the basis of that, the Christian Association of Nigeria agreed to start a CAN TRUST FUND whereby every Christian in Nigeria will contribute some money on a monthly basis to a dedicated account to be managed by trusted Christians – laity and clergy- primarily for the purpose of helping Christian victim of insurgence.

    How much is expected as donation from every Christian?

    If a Christian says all I have is N100, you can put it. If it’s N20, 000 you can put it. There is no limit to what you can give but the standard that we feel that no matter how, an average Christian will be able to part with on a monthly basis is N500. We feel with that, it won’t affect the financial obligation of members to their local assemblies as well as denomination. The truth is we are not in competition with churches and we are not trying to rob Peter to pay Paul.

    Some trustees of the funds were picked up for questioning sometime this year, generating a lot of uproar. Why were they picked up?

    To be candid, we do not know why the DSS or the SSS should do what they did. It was improper and inappropriate because the trustees did nothing wrong. The bone of contention from what we heard from the DSS chief is the video produced to promote the CAN TRUST FUND.

    It is a two- minute- fifty- seconds video highlighting the problem Christians are going through particularly in the north and soliciting the Christian support. It was on the basis of that they invited our trustees to carry the message home.

    We needed to reflect the five blocs in picking the trustees. When you are raising fund of this nature, people want to know who is responsible for it. So it was those trustees that were invited. Whether it was a mischief or a misunderstanding, some people thought the video was produced because of what happened in southern Kaduna towards the end of last year.

    The trustees had to explain it had nothing to do with Southern Kaduna. The video had been produced long before the incidents in Southern Kaduna. CAN TRUST FUND had been established in 2014, long before what happened in Southern Kaduna.

    They had to explain to the DSS that whatever your conclusion is was wrong and improper. In the first instance, to invite our trustees and ask them they are raising funding for Christians is wrong. Are they telling us by implication some people have the rights to attack Christians but Christians have no rights to defend themselves?

    So it was improper and eventually the national secretary of CAN wrote to the DSS and asked them to apologise because what they had done was improper.

    Was an apology tendered?

    No they didn’t apologise. Let’s just say they are still thinking about it or they are composing their apology. We will expect them to apologise but they haven’t till date.

    Some have accused the Christian Elders Forum of spreading what they call Islamophobia in the country. As secretary of the body, what will be your reaction?

    Islamophobia? That is not correct. Christians are killed. Boko Haram is targeting Christians and primarily Fulani herdsmen are attacking Christians and Christian communities. Today the worst terrorist group in the world operates in Nigeria – Boko Haram. The fourth worst terrorist group in the world operates in Nigeria – Fulani herdsmen.

    The issue has drawn international attention. On February 4, the United States Congress officially declared the worst country in the world for anyone to be a Christian is Nigeria. A group conducted a research in 2014 and discovered over 13,000 Christian churches in the northern part of Nigeria have either been destroyed or abandoned at the end of that year.

    The people doing this are doing it on the basis of Muslims against Christians. They believe they are fighting a Jihad. So in such a situation will anyone say there is Islamophobia? It is not right to use that word.

    There is genuine concern that some people have launched Jihad in Nigeria. That is the fact. So it has nothing to do with Christian leaders making statements. Every Christian has to be aware that this is not a ragtag group of people operating. This is well coordinated.

    For it to have been sustained for so long shows that there are conscious manners behind it and the question is who is providing the Fulani herdsmen with Ak-47? Who is teaching them how to make bombs? Who is funding them? Above all, who is protecting them from prosecution?

    So what should be the right Christian approach or response to these attacks considering some believe they must defend themselves while others say they shouldn’t fight back?

    We would not tell Christians to do what the Jihadists are doing. We also need to be careful to distinguish in all fairness between the Muslim who wants to live in peace, do his work, raise his family, go to his mosque and live a peaceful life from the extremist who believes whoever does not believe what he believes should die.

    The people we are dealing with here are extremists. We wouldn’t tell Christians to go and carry arms and start fighting like the extremists. In the first instance, it is not in our nature but self defence is legal, we would make that clear.

    Is it biblical?

    It is not a question of whether it is biblical or not. The first thing is that you are living in a secular society. If you are living in a Christian society where everything has to do with the bible, then the bible remains the constitution.

    But you have a constitution for a secular society and under that with the way Nigeria is going, if we don’t begin reconstructing, the nation will fracture. We need Christians to join that demand. Christians should join in the clarion call for implementation of the National Conference report that would solve not only insecurity but also corruption, unemployment, marginalisation and so on.

    But what would Jesus have done in this kind of situation?

    Jesus would have solicited for peace and call upon the government to do what it is supposed to do. He said we should give unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar and give unto God what belongs to God. But Caesar too should give to the people what belongs to the people and give to God what belongs to God.

    God created institution of government to maintain law and order in the society. Where there is a breakdown of law and order, it simply means the government has failed in its statutory responsibilities. So our call is for government to fulfil its role.

    Jesus would rebuke the government. He would tell the government ‘you have failed in your responsibilities. Go and offer protection because government has the resources.’ There is no way Fulani herdsmen or Boko Haram can be more powerful than the Nigerian security forces. It is not possible. It means somebody somewhere is doing his work.

    A school of thought within the church believes persecution is inevitable but people like you are fighting it through advocacy. What do you say to them?

    We must try in all things at all time to maintain balance in our theology. I am not going to say because Jesus says we would go through tribulations and persecution, therefore I am going to sleep at night and leave the door to my house unlocked. I won’t leave the gates wide open.

    I won’t leave the keys in the ignition. That is taking it to the extreme. We know persecution will come but when you have a breakdown of law and order, it is not persecution. This is breakdown of law and order in which some people think they have the prerogatives to kill others.

    The fellow who says the Bible says we would go through persecution, would he volunteer to be the next victim of Fulani herdsmen? Would he volunteer his wife should be raped? Would he volunteer his children’s heads should be split open with cutlass?  He would tell you immediately God forbids because he is down south.

    Yes there is persecution but God did not say we should die foolishly, neither did God say we should die cowardly. Whoever says that should also remember Jesus said whoever has no sword should sell his jacket and buy a sword. To use it for what?

    That is self defence. Self-defence is legal under the law. It is legal and Christians should take measure to defend themselves.

    But can Christians defend themselves against aggressors and feel good the next morning?

    I don’t know who is saying that, but I know there are Christian soldiers and they shoot people to kill. There are Christian policemen and they shoot people to kill and they don’t feel anything because the man is doing his work.

    Believe me, if you have a pistol and you see a thief trying to enter your door, your first instinct would be to blow him off. You can go and ask for forgiveness later but you will blow him off. The good thing about a Christian ideology is that we are taught to follow peace with all men as much as it is within us.

    We follow peace with all men but when the situations get into breakdown of law and order, government has to help the society because there is limit to what people can endure and people can take.

    Even in the north, it got to a point people started fighting back and they called it reprisal attacks. There is a limit to which you push people. If you push people to a particular limit, you force them to react. And at that point you can’t determine what their response would be.